Concrete Emotions
by Raven-Leigh
Summary: Reno disgraces ShinRa and is on the run. Rufus contemplates his decision as he stares at the redhead's photo. Implied RenoxRufus. Songfic.


_Hello hello! I'm glad to be able to have the free time to write my fanfiction again. I was just so busy with school that I had to let go of one of my favorite things. Now that I've graduated, I can write all I want…well, during the summer before I go back to school, that is. Sooo…here is my first attempt at a songfic since school. The song is by Soilwork, "Nerve". Implied RenoxRufus. R&R if you like._

Sliding his fingers through his hair, the blonde stared out of the window. The green haze of the mako-ridden air shimmered through his window, against the rays of light shining from his desk lamp. Unfinished papers were lying on his desk, collecting space and pen scribbles, a nervous habit he had. Eyes moving from the window, his vision slid across the glass of wine set to the side on the only portion of the desk that was left uncovered. His peripheral vision caught the black and white photo of a man that they were still looking for. It was impersonal for nearly all of the other executives in the company, but Rufus just happened to know Reno quite well, and he would go as far as to say very well. Looking directly at the botched company image, a smile came to his lips as he remembered the red-head's legacy for the company before everything had gone awry.

**Call it liberation or frustration,  
As it hits like a bomb  
Tearing you apart as you're first in line,  
Entering the zone  
Watch how it runs, a nerve wrecking resistance  
Watch how it burns, a venomous script's getting formed  
You've traveled a long way to get here  
And now it's waking you up..**

Reno halfway whimpered as he stumbled out of the alley. He'd forgotten just how persistent the Turks were, even though he'd been one long enough to expect just that. Maybe he'd thought they would go easy on him since he was a former member, a colleague? Perhaps that was it. Yes, probably. Limping away from the alley, he clutched his gun with a new determination. Even if they did hunt him, he had to believe they would stop. They would, right? Rufus wouldn't let them continue after all the time they'd been together. He'd made a simple mistake; it was an honest mistake, not enough to ruin the company, right? Well, it might've ruined the company, but not the ShinRa name, right? Well, okay, probably the integrity of the ShinRa name…but… Reno lowered his head and sighed, dragging himself over to a fire escape to take a breather. The hounds of ShinRa had apparently lost him in the back alleys of Midgar. He wasn't easy to keep up with; after all they were on his turf.

Glancing upward through a hefty crack in the plate, his breath hitched as he saw his former work-place, the very building he'd run away from three nights before. Was Rufus up there waiting? Watching? Tears pricked his eyes as he rose to his feet and continued on, wary of the sound of shouts in the general area. The dogs had caught his scent again.

**Walk straight for a final solution  
Walk straight, don't you be so cold  
Walk straight with a clear resolution  
I'll state my case and never turn**

Rufus reached for the photo, lifting it to stare at the contours of the red-head's face. He'd screwed the picture up on purpose, Reno had. The wide grin and closed eyes said just that, halfway covered by the peace sign. Peace indeed. Rufus stood and walked toward the window, aware of nearly everything around him at once. His mind settled on the cool plastic of the picture in his hand, thumb stroking over the image slightly as he brought it up to look again. Eyes dimming, Rufus pressed his hand against the glass. How could he do this to Reno? 'Easy,' he reminded himself, 'Because your shareholders require you to do it. He's a criminal. Stop feeling sorry for him. He did you wrong.' Gritting his teeth, Rufus let his forehead thump against the window. The Turks would hunt him down and dispose of him, never to be heard from again. The thought made his eyes well, but his expression was set firmly. It had to be done, right? His conscience and heart was telling him something much different from his mind.

**Watch how it runs, watch how it burns  
And it's all a deception  
Break it and learn, there's no return  
For a presence like mine...  
You've traveled a long way to get here...  
It's getting all so clear now, all the  
Things I know  
An elapse of conscious progress will last forevermore  
My courageous insanity follows  
An infinite time  
I'll be attaching the world  
On my shoulders  
Without a look inside  
Inside**

Sliding around the last corner, Reno lost his footing as a bullet ripped through his shoulder. Gasping, he pushed himself up and willed his body to toil onward. He ran into a small, feminine figure and was shoved back, his rear end smacking the ground before anything else. Lying flat on his back, he stared up at the miserable excuse for a plate overhead. "It's over, Reno." He recognized the voice. Elena? His friends were hunting him, of course. They were Turks; they couldn't have emotions. The other three stepped around him. He couldn't remember their names, but he certainly remembered Elena. She looked the same as she always did.

"Leny, really gonna do this?" She didn't reply, and he couldn't see her face, but he watched as she raised something he assumed was a handgun and pointed it at his face. Reno closed his eyes.

**Walk straight for a final solution  
Walk straight, don't you be so cold  
Walk straight with a clear resolution  
I'll state my case and never turn**

Rufus closed his eyes, the cold glass and good memories stirring emotions in him that he would've just as soon forgotten after he'd learned of Reno's betrayal. But he couldn't.

**Walk straight for a final solution  
Walk straight, don't you be so cold  
Walk straight with a clear resolution**

The four Turks approached the building with the bloody figure. "God damn he's heavy. Looks like he doesn't weigh anything, so how come he's a ton?" the youngest man snarled. Their questions were erased as they heard the tinkling of glass from high up. They looked in curiosity but had to shield their eyes from the rain of debris coming down. The thump and crackle of concrete against flesh and bone made them increasingly aware of their own existence in the world that night.


End file.
